Conventionally, printing with a printer almost always refers to printing from a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as PC). In the case of printing from a PC, printing in laser beam printers which are widely utilized in offices and the like is often realized using a language unique to printers, known as Page Description Language (hereinafter referred to as PDL). In this case, as shown in FIG. 1 for example, this is realized by providing, in a printer 305, a controller 303 which analyzes and converts a PDL 302 into data for printing. In the case of the PDL 302, very often text information is sent as a text code, and font data provided in the printer 305 is used.
Furthermore, most inkjet printers and the like which are widely used in ordinary households are, as shown in FIG. 2, exemplified by a printer 313 which is not equipped with a controller. In such a case, the majority have a printer-dedicated driver 312 installed in a PC 310, and bitmap data for printing is generated in the PC 310. The printer 313 just simply receives a print command and the bitmap-data-for-printing 310, and outputs on a print medium such as paper. This is done so that, by not providing font data and a controller, and by making data processing in the printer virtually unnecessary, a low-priced printer is realized.
Meanwhile, with the widespread use of digital still cameras (hereinafter referred to as DSC), recent years have seen the increasing popularity of printers which are, as shown in FIG. 3, equipped with a memory card slot, and able to print without passing through a PC, by connecting directly with a DSC. In the case of a printer that prints from the use of the memory card slot, the printer itself is equipped with a simple liquid crystal monitor and the like, and a print command 321 is sent from such user interface. Furthermore, a specification, known as DPOF, which describes printing control information in a specific file of a memory card is being standardized, and there are printers which automatically interpret the DPOF, internally create the print command 321, and perform printing. As a printer that can print by directly connecting with the DSC, PictBridge and the like, which performs printing by being directly connected via a USB cable and having the print command 321 sent using the user interface of the DSC, is being standardized. In all of these printing formats, data taken by the DSC and recorded in a memory card is converted into data for printing, using a controller 323 in the printer. Furthermore, such printing is customized for picture printing and, although a character string such as the date can also be printed, this is restricted to limited text information. For this reason, handling of print data that includes plenty of text information is difficult.
On the other hand, looking at the content to be printed, the host device carrying the print content has, up to this point, been only a PC. However, with the development of high functionality in various devices such as a portable phone, printing from such devices is becoming possible. In all of such devices, displaying of still pictures taken by a DSC, and connecting to the Internet and the like have become possible, and the handling of information which can be various print contents has become possible. With the popularization of ADSL and the like, the Internet connection environment has become common even in the ordinary household. As such, print contents have gone beyond still pictures, and are now spreading to include various information and services available in the Internet. In the Internet, XML-related languages such as HTML are widely used.
In addition, with Internet connection becoming common, various devices can now be linked to a network. Furthermore, to allow easy network connection for ordinary integrated devices not having the high-functionality as in a PC, specifications such as UPnP (Universal Plug and Play), for example, have been proposed. UPnP clearly stipulates the standard format for print content in the case of printing, and calls for the support of a specification known as XHTML-Print which is one type of XML-related language, as a standard.
In this manner, XML-related languages are spreading to various fields, and the trend towards XML standardization even with regard to print content is gradually rising. Seen from the content creation point of view, one reason for the widespread use is the high level of reusability and ease of revision of data in XML-related languages.
However, in order to realize the printing of XHTML-Print content for example, there is a need to realize a function for analyzing and converting XHTML-Print language into bitmap data for printing. For this purpose, the structure for either the processing in a host device as in the case of the inkjet printer, or the processing in the controller of a printer as in the laser beam printer is adopted. Recently, a format has been proposed in which the conversion into bitmap data for printing is performed in a server, and the bit map data is sent to the printer. However, printing resolution in recent printers has reached high levels, and the amount of bitmap data for printing required has become very large. Therefore, there is a concern that when the conversion into bitmap data for printing is carried out in a host device or a server and the bitmap data is transmitted to the printer, a large mass of data is made to flow through the LAN, which then becomes a bottleneck, thus reducing printing performance.
Furthermore, in the case where the conversion into bitmap data for printing is processed in a host device, as mechanical characteristics are different depending on the printer, there is a need to accommodate the characteristics of these individual devices. Conventionally, this is realized in a PC by installing a driver corresponding to a printer, every time the printer is changed. However, such a method is difficult to realize in the case of host devices, such as a portable phone and a digital AV device, which do not have a mechanism for the installation of software and accommodating the characteristics of peripheral devices.
On the other hand, as an example of processing in the printer, the performance of the conversion process in the printer has been proposed (for example, see patent reference 1). Patent reference 1 indicates an example in which broadcast data received using an STB (Set Top Box) is converted into a description that can be recognized by a printer. In addition, the performance of conversion of content information in the printer is mentioned.
Patent Reference 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2001-237783